Unlike UT, Tech plans to meet budget cuts without layoffs

A bleak state funding outlook hit home in Austin this week when the University of Texas announced it will be laying off 122 people, but officials at Texas Tech renewed their vows to absorb a similar financial blow without axing jobs.

UT's announcement Monday sent shockwaves through Texas higher education system as administrators from Lubbock to Houston stare down the barrel of a 5-percent reduction in state funding between now and 2012.

Gov. Rick Perry first announced the cuts in late January and asked most state-funded institutions to plan for fewer state dollars in 2010 and 2011. He blamed the crunch on a projected $10 billion-plus state budget shortfall and a sluggish economic recovery.

At Tech, officials plan to shave roughly $12.8 million from the university's two-year budget by reining in spending on travel, equipment upgrades and utilities.

More than half of the cuts will come from a hiring freeze and the consolidation or elimination of now-vacant positions.

Tech President Guy Bailey on Tuesday insisted - once again - that Tech will not lay off workers.

"I don't know (UT's) situation, but ours I think we can take care of without anybody losing a job," he said. "We should be able to sustain those without too much trouble. Certainly, we're having to reallocate things and do things, but certainly without job loss."

Although Tech has laid off at least a few dozen workers in the past few months, Bailey said, finances were not a factor.

The university announced last month it will close its in-house print shop this summer, prompting more than 30 workers to start scrambling for jobs in other departments.

The 30,000-square-foot shop's closure, Bailey said, will free up more research space - a cornerstone of the university's strategic aims.

So far, eight of the shop's workers have accepted other positions at Tech, said Jan Childress, vice president for Student Affairs and External Relations, the print shop's parent division. She's confident more will also find new positions before the doors close in July.

Another half-dozen workers lost their jobs in April when the university shut down the multimedia arm of its Office of Communication and Marketing.

Sally Post, the department's director, said the university is retooling its communications team in the face of a rapidly changing media environment. The previous staff lacked the skill sets necessary to keep up with the new delivery platforms, and they'll be replaced with a new group that can keep up with the trends.

She noted these layoffs - like those at the print shop - were part of a strategic reorganization, not a financial stop-gap.

"The communication channels have changed so greatly over the years," Post said. "We just need the staff to meet those needs. You know, Web 2.0, and now 3.0. If that's where people are, we need to be there in those communication channels."